MovieChat Forums > Futurama (1999) Discussion > Preachy anti-illegal download theme thro...

Preachy anti-illegal download theme throughout the show

posted 7 years ago by snownose1497
7 replies | jump to latest

As I rewatch the show for the 12th time, one of the things I really can't stand is the preachiness of "hey don't download things illegally , because children die" (pretty much). For example in the Lucy Liu episode and others.

I think the writers in this one are quite out of touch with what the world really works, either that, or they want to foolishly try to indoctrinate people into not downloading stuff they want to watch, which I think is going against times.

Maybe it's because it's a 18 year old show , I don't know.

Also it's annoying that this site doesn't give any separation whatsoever from signatures.

[–] Kruleworld 7 years ago

I'm sure they were just trying to copy Trek with 'social commentary' of the time they were made. it came across feeling very forced with a poor allegory of the issue. It also doesn't help that what they are pushing is trite with the corporate overlords' viewpoint (and not the everyman).

"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

[–] 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] snownose1497 7 years ago

This and all the hits the make at Mac being so superior to PC's , make me sick tbh. Because , again, they side with the richies, no idea why.

If I could rebuild futurama, I'd only change these two.

Also it's annoying that this site doesn't give any separation whatsoever from signatures.

[–] Final_Hitokiri 7 years ago

I think the writers in this one are quite out of touch with what the world really works

Well, when they wrote the episode, it was more of a controversial issue and the music industry was livid over Napster. (Was iTunes even available when the episode aired?)

However the concept of Fry dating a robot and not wanting to do anything else could be applied to a lot of things and still be perfectly relevant. The overall message isn't "do not download", but "make sure you unplug go outside now and again".

[–] paulsdhart (277) 2 years ago

"Well, when they wrote the episode, it was more of a controversial issue and the music industry was livid over Napster. (Was iTunes even available when the episode aired?)"

^This.
I think "I Dated a Robot" aired just after Itunes appeared and yes it was in the middle of the napster business

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

is illegally downloading ok these days then?
whats changed?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Maybe I'm missing something obvious. Unlike you guys, I always took that aspect of the show to be "tongue in cheek."